The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has appealed to President Donald Trump to step back from the threat of war with Iran, warning that the destruction of civilian infrastructure and rhetoric about wiping out a civilisation cannot be morally justified. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley issued the appeal on 7 April as tensions sharpened over Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, and he coupled it with a call for Catholics and all people of goodwill to join Pope Leo XIV’s prayer vigil for peace on Saturday, 11 April.
In his statement, released by the USCCB in Washington, Archbishop Coakley said: “The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified.” He added: “There are other ways to resolve conflict between peoples. I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost.”
The intervention followed threats attributed to Mr Trump in connection with an ultimatum over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. The US president had threatened an all-out attack on Iran if Tehran failed to comply by Tuesday evening, and had spoken of the possible destruction of Iran’s “whole civilization” if no deal was reached by an 8 p.m. Eastern deadline.
Archbishop Coakley explicitly linked his appeal to Pope Leo XIV’s Easter calls for peace. Referring to the Holy Father’s Urbi et Orbi message, he recalled that the risen Christ’s greeting to the disciples was “Peace be with you” and repeated the Pope’s insistence that true peace is not simply the silencing of weapons but something that touches and transforms the human heart.
He went on to invite bishops, priests, lay faithful and “all people yearning for true peace” to unite themselves to Pope Leo’s vigil for peace on 11 April, whether virtually, in parishes and chapels, or in personal prayer. The archbishop said the faithful should join the Pope in praying for peace in the world and in entrusting to the Lord all those who suffer while awaiting the peace that only God can give.
The appeal places the US bishops squarely within the Holy See’s wider effort during Holy Week and Easter to urge restraint, dialogue and a ceasefire in the face of escalating violence. Vatican News presented Archbishop Coakley’s statement as a direct plea for the White House to retreat from the brink, while the USCCB framed it as an answer to the danger of increased military action, including possible attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran.
Although the archbishop’s statement was framed in explicitly Christian language, its moral argument was broader and political as well as pastoral. He did not merely ask for prayer: he called for negotiation over force and argued that conflict between peoples must be resolved by means other than devastation. In doing so, he positioned the bishops’ conference against both maximalist war rhetoric and the normalisation of civilian suffering as an instrument of strategy.
With the Vatican preparing the peace vigil in St Peter’s Square on 11 April, Archbishop Coakley’s message gives the US hierarchy’s backing to Pope Leo XIV’s Easter appeal that hearts as well as weapons must be changed. At a moment when the crisis with Iran risks widening further, the bishops’ response has been to press for prayer, restraint and a negotiated peace before more lives are lost.
